How Faith Works
What does it mean to have faith?
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.[ For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. - James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17
Faith is defined as complete trust in someone or something. It is believing without proof, knowing without really knowing, expecting what can only be imagined as an outcome.
We say we are members of a faith, and we mean that we belong to a church.
We say that we have faith in the resurrection, and we mean we believe we will be raised from the dead.
We say that we are faithful when we mean that we stick to our commitment.
Faith is something we just have. It is not something we need to work at, but is it enough to have faith?
Saint Augustine described it this way, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
Thomas Aquinas pointed us in this direction, “To the one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To the one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
Let me repeat that.
“To the one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To the one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
How many times have people challenged you to prove or justify your belief is true?
Jesus was challenged all the time. The Pharisees tried. So did the scribes. Even the devil gave it his best.
But when faith is strong, it cannot be shaken.
Plato said it this way. “We are twice armed if we fight with faith.”
So, if having faith is something desired and even powerful, shouldn’t we do something with it?
That, I think, is James’ point.
More to come...